Friday, August 7, 2009

State Gives Employee the Finger: No Leg

Former Governor Sebelius, now the US Health and Human Services Secretary is making the rounds trying to sell the proposed health care plan put forth by the Obama administration. Now - I'll be the first to admit that our health care system is in a sorry state. I have personally experienced it, ironically, at the hands of Kathleen Sebelius.

For sheer entertainment value, watch the video below and listen carefully to her words. "Excuse me, excuse me. The federal employee health system would stay in place, as would other employer based coverage." Then she waves the microphone around as if to say, "Are you people clueless? Why are all these people booing me?"

I'll tell you why, Secretary Sebelius - because you aren't getting it. Where were you when for over a year, you and your Health Care-less Commission received letters from all over the US and the world asking to provide the same prosthetic standard of care to your State Employees that you provide for the nonworking Kansans? Why did you never respond to a single letter, not even a courtesy call? Why, after all those letters, was the contract language changed to become more arbitrary, exclusive, even denying State Employee amputees anything that might provide "comfort and convenience?" All I asked for, after losing my leg, was the prosthesis that my Doctor prescribed. The leg that would allow me to do my job properly. The leg that our service men and women use, the same old leg that's been around for over 10 years that anyone on Medicaid can get.

What I got instead was the finger.

That's why people are booing, Kathleen. Actions speak louder than your hollow words. I've had a taste of your state employee health system and if all you're offering is more of the same disparity, then you can keep it.